Nokia's VP Purnima Kochikar has confirmed that Symbian will likely just fade away in an open letter to developers, despite the fact that there are a number of Symbian-based devices in the pipeline during the "transition period" of 2011-2012.

"In many markets, including markets where Symbian is currently the lead smartphone platform with significant market share such as China, India, Russia and Turkey, we will continue to make our Symbian portfolio as competitive as possible while we work with Microsoft to introduce Windows Phone," the letter says.

But when pressed to give a cut-off for the OS, Kochikar equivocates: "We cannot give you the date when Symbian will no longer be supported.

"Our intention is that when users come to the end of the natural lifecycle of their Symbian device they will make the change to a Nokia Windows Phone device and so it would not be in our interests to undermine their Nokia smartphone experience."

Meanwhile, Nokia has begun a rebranding phase, starting with a new font and look for promotional materials. The new font, dubbed "Nokia Pure" is meant to look, well, "pure and simple." The flow of the letters is intended to create "the impression of forward movement."

In addition to promotional materials, the new font will be used on Nokia devices. According to the Nokia blog, the font has been designed specifically for use in mobile and digital environments.

"We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." -- Apple CEO Steve Jobs